Dead Cop Was Shot By Partner, Lawyer Says

Defense Attorney Hints At Cover-up

May 15, 1997|By James Hill, Tribune Staff Writer.

On a crisp afternoon in early March 1995, Chicago Police Officer Daniel Doffyn donned his blue uniform before saying goodbye to his daughter and parents. The rookie police officer then headed off to his post at the Austin District station.

It would be the last time Doffyn, 40, would see his family.

"I was watching `Jeopardy' when (the news) came on television saying two police officers had been shot," Roger Doffyn, Daniel's 71-year-old father, testified Wednesday as the trial began for two reputed gang members charged in the police officer's shooting death. "One of them (the officers) was (in) critical (condition) and one was 40 years old. I said, `Oh my God, it's Danny.' "

Assistant Cook County State's Atty. David O'Connor asked the elder Doffyn: "How was Dan the next time you saw him?"

"He was dead," Roger Doffyn said, his voice cracking as he wiped the tears with his suitcoat and tried to regain his composure.

Daniel Doffyn's partner, 32-year-old Milan "Michael" Bubalo, was wounded in the shooting and had to have a hip replaced.

Murray Blue, 26, of 4306 W. Maypole Ave., the alleged shooter, and Clyde Cowley, 18, of 4303 W. Maypole are charged with first-degree murder of a police officer, attempted murder of a police officer, aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver. Blue and Cowley have separate attorneys and separate juries, which are shuffled in and out of the courtroom as needed as evidence is presented.

A third man, Jimmie Parker, 34, also of 4303 W. Maypole, will be tried later.

Blue's attorney, Anita Rivkin-Carothers, said during opening statements that she intends to prove that Doffyn was accidentally shot by his partner during a frantic moment of gunfire. Rivkin-Carothers went on to say that after the shooting, investigators, including the chief administrator of the police department's Office of Professional Standards, got together and filed a false report in which they blamed Blue.

"He (Bubalo) was nervous," she said. "He was a rookie cop. Shots were being fired."

Bubalo's parents, who were in the courtroom, gasped at the assertion. They shook their heads, and Bubalo's mother began to cry.

Doffyn's family, including his 10-year-old daughter, Brittany, also sat stunned. They shook their heads in disbelief.

Ballistics reports show at least one of the two bullets that struck Doffyn came from Blue's Tec-9 automatic machine pistol. Prosecutor James McKay, who called the three defendants a "death squad," would not comment on the other bullet.

The public defenders for Cowley maintained that their client never shot anyone. Attorney Michael Mayfield said Cowley cooperated with police after the shooting "because he knew he was not responsible."

According to prosecutors, shortly after 3 p.m. on March 8, 1995, a call was placed to the Austin District about a break-in at an apartment building behind the station. When Doffyn and Bubalo responded, authorities say, the three defendants panicked because they had been involved a half-hour earlier in a shooting of a man who was selling drugs on their turf.

The defendants tried to escape through a window when Doffyn grabbed Cowley and Blue pulled out the assault weapon, officials say. Prosecutors say Doffyn was shot in the chest and head.

The gunfire also hit Cowley several times, officials say. Bubalo was struck in the hip before returning fire, hitting Blue in the head, officials say.